Drown

Chapter 5

Fear for Jay makes the nightmares especially intense tonight. In one, I'm swimming like mad, zooming past villages, past confused merpeople, trying to stay one stroke ahead of whatever or whomever was on my tail. I'm about to pass my fourth village when I stop, panting heavily. As soon as I catch my breath, I ready myself to continue swimming when a strong hand suddenly grips my hair, jerking me backwards.

I freeze, barely breathing as I see a flash of black hair out of the corner of my eye. Dark blue eyes edged with malice meet mine as I whirl around. Tiger Shark stares back at me, a cruel smile on his face. I struggle to keep my breathing steady as he grabs my hand. I barely have time to scream as my vision blurs, then clears. When I open my eyes again, Tiger Shark is gone.

Bodies. That's what's surrounding me as I float a couple yards away from the entrance to our village. They range from children to the elderly. A knot forms in my stomach as I swim to each body, checking their injuries.

My heart stops completely as I come upon two mermen, side by side. The first one, with black hair and grey eyes, has his mouth open mid-scream. The one beside him has brown hair and dark green eyes. His mouth is closed, but his eyes are staring up at the surface, unseeing.

Jay. David. I mouth their names as I slowly sink to the seafloor. I quickly forget where I'm going, what I'm doing. All I want is for the pain to stop. My vision blurs, clears, then blurs again as I start to wake up.

I could barely see through the tears in my eyes. When the tears finally subsided, David's face came into view, his expression solemn. Behind the solemnness, however, there was a graveness in his eyes. I took a shaky breath, grabbing my notepad.

What's going on? Are my sisters okay? As I wrote the last letter, an even worse thought surfaced in my mind, filling me with bone-crushing dread. Is it Mom?

Rissa, we just got word that Tiger Shark attacked Nepttheas. It was all-out slaughter. David hesitated. The grief in his eyes was clear. There were no survivors.

For a heartbeat, the world froze, as if someone had pressed the PAUSE button. I shook my head, eyes impossibly wide. My body felt foreign as I rose, hands fisted at my sides. It was like someone else was controlling my mind.

Overwhelmed by grief and pain, I zoomed out of the house, heading into the open water. I paid my surroundings no heed as I swam, desperately trying to outswim the grief that was so dangerously close to consuming me.

It felt like I'd been swimming for hours when I finally slowed to a stop, my body trembling. I shivered as I recognized my surroundings. I was in a barren, desolate part of Aegrem. The tears hit me with the force of a thousand rogue waves and I bent double, a hand over my mouth to stifle the sob that was trying to escape. My sisters' faces played on repeat in my head. Naia's beautiful smiling face... Meri's bright eyes shining as she laughed...

I was so consumed by grief that I jumped out of my skin when a hand landed on my shoulder. The world spun as I rose and slowly turned around, thinking David had come looking for me.

My heart stopped completely as I looked into dark blue eyes. Tiger Shark. He looked at me, frowning when he noticed my expression. For a heartbeat, the grief was replaced by simmering rage. I launched myself at him, my fists aimed at his face.

Even through the red haze of anger and grief, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction at the pain I was causing him. I was breathing heavily when I finished, barely noticing the stinging pain in my knuckles.

He spat blood on the ground as he looked at me, a shocked expression on his face. Before he could so much as raise a hand, I turned around. Not sparing a second glance at him, I swam away, trying to mask the shaking in my hands. I swam home in a daze, trying not to stare at the blood on my knuckles.

David swam out to meet me, his eyes widening at the blood on my knuckles. He took one look at my face, the exhaustion and sadness in my eyes, and gently took my hand, guiding me into mine and Jay's bedroom.

I wordlessly climbed into bed, turning on my side and folding an arm under my head. Only then did I let myself cry. Great, heaving sobs wracked my trembling body, mingling with the shivers that ran down my spine. I didn't flinch as I felt Jay swim to my side of the bed, tugging the blanket over me and gently kissing my cheek.

Only when Jay slid into bed beside me did I feel the tension drain from my body. I slumped against the pillows, my eyes slowly closing as sleep wrapped me in its tender embrace.

Read and review!